Trip Reports - ABZ-FRA-WAW on LH (and a little bit of LO)

Poland is a country that I have wanted to visit for a while now and I eventually got round to booking a trip there earlier this year. I’ve just come back from a great long weekend in Warsaw and experienced two new airlines – LH and LO. Hope you enjoy reading some of my musings on them...

ABZ-FRA, LH971 (operated by Lufthansa Cityline), D-AECG

This flight is at quite a civilised time – 9.15am. We arrived at the airport at about 7.20am to find that the check in desks weren’t open. There was one member of staff directing you to whatever desk you were to check in at but the LH check in desks didn’t open until 7.35am and even then we were about 15th in queue. ABZ doesn’t score any brownie points for this shambles. The queue for the LH desks stretched right back and outside of the terminal. They need to get more staff pronto.

Anyway, after waiting around for ages, we finally got rid of our bags and got through security in about 5 minutes. A few pints and a sausage softie later, it was time to board.

It was a really nice morning in Aberdeen – very sunny compared to the week before in which we saw some really stormy weather.

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It was relatively busy at ABZ this morning – one SK flight had just arrived from CPH and another had was taxiing onto the stand from SVG.

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The aircraft was a small Embraer 190 (I think) and had two air hostesses who were very pleasant. The pursuer was chatting to us at the back while the last of the bags were being loaded. My friend thought it would be funny to tell me that my one had fallen off and not been loaded. The air hostess thought this was funny and told him (in a joking manner) to stop being nasty to me. She then relayed all of this in German to the other air hostess who thought it was funny.

We took off near enough on time and because it was such a nice morning, were treated to some really nice views of Aberdeen as we passed south over the city and the harbour. I’ll let the pictures do the talking here.

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Breakfast was served – some fruit salad and a cereal bar and then the drinks trolley rolled down the aisle.

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We were on holiday so decided to partake in some German beer. It was 5pm somewhere, right? We enjoyed the views as we soared high above the clouds. Nothing better than having a cold beer while taking in the view from 39,000ft.

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I think we passed over AMS....

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The air hostess came up to the back and sat on the arm of the seat next to me. She chatted for a minute about where we were going to and then asked my friend if he had stopped being nasty yet – ha. She then suggested we have another beer – we didn’t need asked twice.

Decent leg room on these Embraers – I found that when I took an AF flight earlier this year too.

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And before we knew it, we were approaching FRA where it was another nice morning.

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We parked at some remote stand and were bussed to the main terminal. We had about 2 hours before the flight to WAW so found a bar and had a few more beers to pass the time.

FRA-WAW, LH1350, D-ABEA

Before long we were on board again for the pretty full flight to WAW. You know who rules the roost at FRA...

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We took off and I promptly dropped off until I heard the trolley coming down the aisle. We got given some cake thing which was actually quite nice obviously polished off with a beer (for medicinal purposes only I’m sure you understand.....)

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The staff on the flight were very pleasant and very quick at fulfilling requests. The flight went by very quickly and before long, we were on approach to WAW.

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Intercontinental Warsaw and some city shots

We stayed in the IC which is very central. We booked a club room which gave access to the lounge on the 41st floor with some amazing views. There were plenty of tables to sit at, lots of comfy sofas, two computers and a boardroom which could be used for meetings.

Breakfast was served in the lounge in the mornings and evening canapés were served also. The girl on reception said it would be light food in the evenings but there was enough substantial food there to have a proper meal – indeed we did some nights and didn’t have to go out to find a restaurant to eat dinner. Breakfast was great too – continental offerings and some hot food too– bacon, sausages and eggs.

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The staff in the lounge were very, very efficient and professional going about their duties. Whenever the buffet was about to be cleaned away, they would go individually to each table and say that the food would be out for ten more minutes. One of the girls was also very proactive at going round and filling up the glasses of those drinking red wine. I was happy with this seeing as red wine was my tipple of choice one night.

The staff were all female – we never saw a male member of staff in the lounge the whole time we stayed in the hotel. Not sure if this is deliberate or not!? We weren’t complaining – they obviously reserve the very pretty members of staff for the club lounge ;)

Our room, and the lounge looked over to the Palace of Arts – nice view during the day and at night.

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We noticed one night while we were sitting on our window ledge that the zebra crossings are actually piano keys – very funky!

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This is the hotel from outside at street level – I love the design.

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The pool and gym are up on the 43rd floor. What a great idea – it’s amazing swimming looking out over the city. And I bet more people would be inclined to get fit and join the gym if they had views like this while they were on the treadmill (although at £75 a month, it’s perhaps a bit steep.....!)

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Here are a few pics from the city centre of Warsaw.

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WAW-FRA, LH5717 (operated by LOT Polish Airlines), SP-LLB

So after a great few days in Warsaw, it was time to head home. We grabbed a taxi to take us to the airport and had some beers to pass the time and headed to board once the queue was short.

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What can I say about Polish Airlines? Erm, not much to be honest. We were welcomed on board with a grunt and given a finger point up the back. It was all slightly chaotic and the air hostesses didn’t pay much attention to safety. The guy sitting beside me had his tray table down as we taxied and when we took off. I rung for the air hostess – no answer. Motioned at him to put it up but he played the Polish card and made it look as though he had no clue what I was going on about which was obviously BS as he had a copy of the Wall Street Journal as well as his Polish paper. People further down the cabin had reclined their chairs. It was just a bit crazy. Not what you’d get on a British or American airline.

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There were some eager plane spotters at the edge of the runway watching on as we took off.

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We were served with a sandwich and some chocolate biscuit thing which was perfectly fine for the short flight and of course, some Polish beer.

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It was a very bumpy flight – the seatbelt sign was on most of the hop across to FRA. It didn’t even seem as if we totally got about cloud level to be honest – I could see clouds flying past us right out the window. But then we eventually got a little bit higher but it took ages to get to this level!

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We started to descend into FRA and it again was pretty turbulent on the way down. The pilot needed his lights on to see where he was going!

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Before long, we were on the ground and I was quite glad that my experience of LO was coming to an end.

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I like the paintwork on the Korean A380s...

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We were at a remote stand again and were bussed to the terminal. We only had an hour before our flight to ABZ so managed to get through passport check quite quickly.

FRA-ABZ, LH974, D-AILT

This was a bigger plane than the one which took us from ABZ to FRA – a A319 of some description. It was a very busy flight – I think LH must do quite well out of ABZ as both of the flights we had were relatively full.

We took off in the dark and I popped in my iPod and dozed for a while.

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A long weekend of drinking and walking and partying had started to catch up with me. We got a nice cheese sandwich on rye bread which I love.

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The flight passed quickly – I think it was an hour and 45 minutes we were in the air. We started descending along the coast.

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The cabin crew were again very attentive and friendly. There was an middle aged woman assisted by a younger guy – maybe in his 20s serving us up at the back of the plane. We landed and the queue at passport control was massive. The cabin crew lady had a joke with me when she whisked past me with whatever security card it is that crew have. I said something about the queue taking ages to move and I think she replied “You should try landing in Paris!”.

So, all in all, I was really impressed with LH and would have no hesitation using them again. The only reason that I did use them this time was because they were much cheaper than going BA and connecting via LHR. The staff I encountered were generally very friendly and great at their jobs. The less said about LO the better.....if I had an itinerary with them in the future, I think I’d have to change it, or better still, not even book it in the first place.

Hope you enjoyed my ramblings. Any questions, just ask.

I very much enjoyed your report. Nice photos and fuselage shots. Did you enjoy any Polish food specialties while in Warsaw? Did you try any special vodkas?

Our room, and the lounge looked over to the Palace of Arts – nice view during the day and at night.



It is Palace of Culture;)

Original name: Joseph Stalin Palace of Culture - which explains why Poles do not particularly like this building.

PS. Nice pictures - thanks for sharing...

Lovely pics!

Thanks all.

Yes, tried some Polish food. Some sorrel soup, some rye soup, little dumplings with mushrooms inside, some Polish sausage and another meat dish which I forget the name of. All very nice :)

I did exactly the same trip as you, except from BHX, a few years ago to celebrate securing a training contract. LH was great, and the IC Club level worked out at great value (or it did for us)!

Totally with you on beer at 7AM: it's always cocktail hour somewhere.

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This is a great take on the regular champagne-in-the-window pics you see around here. Actually beats it, methinks! :D

My memory of Polish food was something along the lines of, especially, cabbages, potatoes and more cabbage...

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Thanks Catweazle!

I quite liked the beer in the window shot too! Shows I'm a typical beer drinking Scot at heart ;)

And I did notice (and try) lots of cabbage!

Nice pictures!

Thanks blackmamba!